10+ Essential BSA And Cub Scout Songs For Learning And Fun

One classic but often overlooked part of the Scouting experience are songs and chants! Who doesn’t want to strike up a tune alongside friends seated around the campfire? On top of being fun, wholesome, and free, singing offers tons of benefits: it boosts mood, provides relaxation, assists with brain development, and even impacts physical health! 😃

If you’ve been in Scouting for a little while, you definitely already know a song or two from skits or amazing summer camp performances. But, skits aren’t the only place for singing! In this article, you’ll discover a ton of awesome songs that can be used by Scouts to learn BSA values, increase cheer, and build teamwork.

PS. This article is a guest post collaboration between Cub Scouting volunteer Jaci H and Cole 🙂

Former Cubmaster Patrick M. from Renton, WA shared his thoughts about songs and Scouting: “Songs in Scouting are a great way to help get a group ready for a meeting or an outing by increasing energy levels, bringing fellowship at a campfire, or even calming a crowd at the end of an evening.”

In the following sections, we’ll review five main ways that song is used in Scouting: teaching, teambuilding, campfires, skits, and describing the overall Scout experience! Afterward, you’ll have a great selection of songs that can be used to improve the morale of your troop or pack. So without further ado, let’s dive in!

The Best Cub Scout and BSA Scout Songs

Scout Songs for Teaching

Think of how we all learned the alphabet… through a song, right? Every Cub Scout and BSA Scout has to learn the Scout Law and Scout Oath. And, when you incorporate a song into that memorization, it helps them to learn faster and easier! Fortunately, there are many songs written with this purpose in mind! 😉

Songs for Teaching the Scout Law

Below is one example of a song (3:58) teaching the Scout Law! After hearing this a few times over, there’s no way you won’t be able to recite the Scout Law on your own! Feel free to skip to the 1 min mark to jump right to the start of the song!

Below is another version of a song that helps to teach the Scout Law. This one is quite different. While the above song teaches the Scout Law by singing the words all in a row (great for direct memorization), this one below describes a Scout. It’s called the Trustworthy Scout Song and it’s sung to the tune of “Yankee Doodle”!

Trustworthy Scout Song
Trustworthy, yes! We all are Scouts,
Loyal to our Mothers,
Helpful to the folks about and
Friendly to our brothers.
Courteous to all we know,
Kind unto our rabbits
Obedient to our father, too and
Cheerful in our habits.
Thrifty saving for a need
Brave and not a faker
Clean in word and thought and deed and
Reverent to our Maker!

Songs for Teaching the Scout Oath

There are songs to help teach the Scout Oath as well! Here’s an example (0:44) of a leader who sings the Scout Oath to the tune of “Oh My Darlin’ Clementine” to help their Scouts better memorize the important lines of this oath. 🙂

Here’s another example of a song used to teach the Scout Oath! In this video (2:10), the singer gets the Scouts in the right tune by first singing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star and then changing the words to the Scout Oath:

Before we move on to the next section, I just need to point out the creativity of a parent in Boerne, TX who wrote the verses below to the theme of SpongeBob. You’ll notice right at the start that “Are you ready kids?” is converted in the song to “Are you ready Scouts?” Follow along from there!

Good Scouts
CM: Are you ready, Scouts?
Scouts: Aye aye, Cubmaster!
CM: I can’t hear you!
Scouts: Aye, aye Cubmaster!
CM: Oooohhhhh…
Who’s helpful and friendly and kind as can be?
Scouts: Me, me, me, me (points to self)
CM: Reverent and silly, and honest to thee?
Scouts: You, you, you, you (points to others)
CM: Is trusting and thrifty and courageously brave?
Scouts: Us, us, us, us (puts arm around shoulders of a few close Scouts and sway)
CM: Then jump off the floor and give me a wave!
Scouts: Yah, yah, yah, yah (jumps up and down waving hands)
Everyone: We are good Scouts
We are good Scouts
We are good Scouts
We are gooood Ssccoouuttts!

Scout Songs for Team Building

Any activity involving singing and Scouts could be considered some type of team building. A Cub Scout leader, Patrick M. from Renton, WA shared how his group started opening each pack meeting with a song. He said the Scouts took to it quickly, and really began to look forward to the meeting kickoff!

They started this tradition in 2017, and still continue it to this day. Some of their favorite songs are “Grand Old Duke of York,” “The Grand Old Captain Kirk,” “Tarzan of the Apes,” “The Hippocampus Song,” and “It Ain’t Gonna Rain No More”!

Former Cubmaster Justin S. from Mantachie, MS said his Scouts learned “Sanctuary” and “Thank You Lord for Your Blessings on Me” in sign language and performed them before advancement ceremonies at the end of the year. “The kids loved it, so we agreed to make this a thing with our pack — to learn the songs and perform in sign language.”

Scout Songs for Campfires

Cub Scout den leader Emily W. from Santa Clarita, CA said that her Scouts especially loved many of the camp songs. Their favorite ones included “Boom Chicka Boom,” “Baby Shark,” and “Hermie the Worm.” Here’s a sample (3:14) of “Hermie the Worm”:

On Amazon, you can find a vintage Scout Song Book with quite a number of campfire singalongs. This is a terrific resource to bring along camping, especially if you want to introduce new songs to your troop!

Patrick M. had some additional words of wisdom about song. At the pack level, he said, “A songbook could be more like a small pamphlet that is easy and cheap to print but that the Scouts can call their own. I used to keep my songbooks in the cargo pocket of my Scout pants in a small baggie along with my other go-to items!”

We have another article about songs on ScoutSmarts also, Scout Songs: Cole’s 7 Favorite Campfire Songs to Sing In a Troop. I think you’ll find that one super interesting too, and you’ll see a little bit of crossover with this piece! That just goes to show what Scouts everywhere tend to love. 🙂

Scout Songs for Skits

The US Scouting Service Project site has a separate page for skits, but there are plenty of songs you can use for this purpose. “If I Weren’t a Boy Scout” is a fun song with many choices for verses. This video (5:11) is hilarious and features a group of leaders who change the lyrics to “If I Were Not a Cub Scout.” You’ll want to watch it all! 😂

I have two other favorite memories of skits that I just have to share. The first is the Invisible Bench. It looks like a family might have created this 1 minute video. It’s so cute and well done! I also remember this skit from Cub Scout day camp many years ago when my son was just a boy.

Finally, I need to share the JC Penney skit! This video (1:27) comes from a Webelos camp. It’s such a great skit and the kids have so much fun with it. I definitely remember it from the days when my son was a Cub Scout! He’s now all grown up. In fact, he just earned his Eagle rank! 😉

Songs That Capture the Scouting Experience

There are also songs that were created to describe what it is to be a Scout. I came across a fun Cub Scout recruitment song, which may be quite popular as it’s to the tune of “Do You Want To Build a Snowman” from Disney’s Frozen movie! Here are the lyrics:

Do you wanna join the Cub Scouts?
It’s lots and lots of fun
So many things to do
I really gotta run
There’s hiking, camping, Pinewood Derby, and more.
Do you wanna join the Cub Scouts?
C’mon and join the Cub Scouts
HERE’S MY MOM TO TELL YOU MORE!!!

Here’s another catchy song (3:37), “On the Scouting Trail,” that describes the journey from Tiger to Webelos. It could be a great recruiting song! I think it would also be fun to play the video at a Blue & Gold celebration or some other advancement event 😀

Conclusion

As you can see, there are so many songs you can use throughout your Scouting activities — whether it’s teaching, team building, camping, doing a skit, or reflecting on what it means to be a Scout! The songs we shared just touch the surface of what’s available. Visit some of the links we referenced, and you’ll find many more!

Thanks so much for dropping by, and for being an awesome part of the Scouting community! If you enjoyed learning about these popular, fun, and exciting Scout songs, I’d highly recommend also checking out any of these related articles if they spark your interest:

I hope we’ve inspired you to use more music in Scouting. I’ll leave you with one more piece of advice from Patrick M: “Scouts might tell you that they don’t want to sing, but then all of a sudden have a great time after the song begins.” I personally think it’s hard to be in a bad mood when music is playing. 🙂 See you next time, Scouts and Scouters!